Follow the Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation on Twitter at @MattCwiertnyMF and you can follow me (Michele) at @MicheleCwiertny for contest announcements as well. :D

So why does this matter so much to my family and to me? Here's why we're so passionate about this:

Matt was a 22-year-old junior art director for Marshall Advertising, who loved the L.A. Galaxy soccer, A.S. Roma, the Flight of the Conchords, The Dandy Warhols, Jack’s Mannequin, The 88, and Will Ferrell movies, when he got a really bad case of mono. We thought he'd recovered until six months later when Matt started getting extraordinarily high fevers, his blood pressure dropped, and his blood counts cratered. His doctors were confounded, especially when they concluded it was not mono. It was only after he went into respiratory failure that his doctors at USC learned he suffered from EBV-induced Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (EBV-HLH), a blood disorder affecting only 1 of every 1,000,000 persons (after a bone marrow biopsy, the doctors concluded he'd had mono earlier). While EBV-HLH is not cancer, it acts and is treated like a cancer. The disorder destroys healthy blood cells, and is treated with chemotherapy, and a bone marrow transplant, if necessary. EBV-HLH often induces lymphoma, which it did in Matt. One month after his EBV-HLH diagnosis, Matt learned he was also battling NK T-Cell lymphoma, one of the most aggressive and least researched blood cancers there is.

In December 2008, Matt received his bone marrow transplant. While it temporarily put him in remission, his lymphoma returned in February 2009, and in June 2009, Matt learned it had returned in the form of an inoperable brain tumor. After chemo failed to put him in remission, Matt began radiation treatment. Before finishing it, he was readmitted to the City of Hope in late September 2009. At that time, Matt was in a weakened state, with his EBV levels extraordinarily high that it was debilitating to his liver and kidneys. Unfortunately, the doctors were unable to administer any treatment that could reverse the affects of the EBV and its impact on Matt’s vital organs… And at midnight on October 3, 2009, he passed away with his family surrounding him.

Please help us fund medical research for EBV and EBV-associated diseases, including blood cancers. We need cures and NOW. Let's do this for Matt.

To Donate to the "Raising $5,000 for MCMF" fundraiser on Crowdrise, click HERE.

P.S. And to read more about what Matt's friends and family have accomplished while raising funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society over the past few years, please read Michele and Eric's "Rise" on Crowdrise -- Thank you.

Join us at the Fountain Bowl Bowling Alley in Fountain Valley, CA on Saturday, October 15th! We're holding our 2nd Annual Bowl-A-Rama from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm and it wouldn't be the same without you! Awesome, right? We're going to have 50/50 raffles, silent auction items, door prizes, bowling awards, good friends, food, and lots of fun!

All proceeds benefit the Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation, so grab 4-5 of your friends for your amazing team and get ready to blow us all away with your stellar bowling technique.

Ticket Price to Bowl: $30 a person.
And hey, if you can't make it to the Fountain Bowl Bowling Alley on October 15th, then feel free to DonateHERE on Crowdrise and help us raise funds for the Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation. We'll definitely love you for that too. :)

About Me

Wanna Become a Superhero?

I'm on a mission to wipe out EBV and EBV-associated diseases, which include blood cancers. My brother-in-law, Matt Cwiertny, passed away on October 3, 2009 at the age of 24--way too young-- from an EBV-induced NK T-cell Lymphoma. My family and I want to make sure other families and patients do not have to endure the nightmare that is battling a blood disease and blood cancer... and we can do that by raising funds and helping to find a CURE.
So that's the story. Help us raise funds for EBV and EBV-associated diseases by going to THE MATT CWIERTNY MEMORIAL website or to our Charity page on Crowdrise. Thank you so much for your support!